Elon Musk Promises to Make ‘Significant Improvements’ to Twitter — Calls Crypto Spam Bots ‘Single Most Annoying Problem’

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has joined Twitter’s board of administrators and promised to “make important enhancements” to the social media platform. Some adjustments he’s contemplating embody including an edit button and fixing the crypto spam bot drawback, which he sees because the “single most annoying drawback on Twitter.”

Elon Musk Joins Twitter’s Board of Directors

After disclosing Monday that he has taken a 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc., Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has joined Twitter’s board of administrators, in response to the social media large’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk is now Twitter’s largest shareholder.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted welcoming Musk to his firm’s board. The Tesla boss replied: “Looking ahead to working with Parag & Twitter board to make important enhancements to Twitter in coming months!”

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted: “I’m actually joyful Elon is becoming a member of the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s position in it. Parag and Elon each lead with their hearts, and they are going to be an unbelievable group.”

Musk Promises to Make Major Improvements to Twitter

Following Musk’s Twitter funding, many individuals flooded the Tesla CEO’s tweets with their concepts on methods to enhance Twitter.

Some ideas concern crypto spam bots. “Elon, it’s essential do one thing about these crypto spam bots,” one particular person wrote. “They’re getting actually annoying. Improving the verification system to show that you just’re an precise *actual* human would assist with this.” Musk concurred, emphasizing that in his opinion, that is the “single most annoying drawback on Twitter.”

This was not the primary time Musk has voiced considerations in regards to the crypto spam bot drawback. Crypto spam posts often seem on Musk’s tweet threads, and plenty of of them promote crypto giveaway scams. Scammers typically capitalize on Musk’s reputation, that includes him and his firms gifting away bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies.

Musk tweeted on Feb. 1, 2020: “The crypto rip-off degree on Twitter is reaching new ranges. This will not be cool.” His assertion was made in response to a remark that “Even verified accounts are actually being hacked and pushing faux bitcoin scams.”

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Marcus estimated on March 25:

I believe crypto spam bots make up 40% of Twitter.

Besides the crypto spam bot drawback, Musk is wanting into including an edit button to tweets. He arrange a ballot Monday asking his 80.6 million followers, “Do you need an edit button?” The CEO of Twitter confused: “The penalties of this ballot will probably be vital. Please vote rigorously.” Over 4.4 million votes had been counted and 73.6% mentioned sure.

Twitter consumer Liz Wheeler argued towards having an edit button. She opined: “What if a tweet goes viral, numerous retweets & tens of millions of impressions, & then the creator utterly adjustments the which means? Not only a grammatical repair, however a complete ideological change? Or shameless self-promote?”

The CTO of Meta, previously Facebook, chimed in: “We solved this on Facebook a very long time in the past. You simply embody an indicator that it has been edited together with a change log. If you’re actually anxious about embeds they’ll level to a selected revision in that historical past however with a hyperlink to the newest edit. Not an actual situation.” However, Musk replied, “Facebook provides me the willies.”

Some different ideas concern Twitter’s truth checking, election management, and bringing again banned customers, reminiscent of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Musk mentioned on the finish of March that he needed to construct a social media platform that focuses on free speech as a high precedence. “Given that Twitter serves because the de facto public city sq., failing to stick to free speech ideas essentially undermines democracy,” he described.

There Are Some Skeptics

Not everyone seems to be assured that Musk will enhance Twitter. Regarding free speech, Bloomberg printed an opinion piece Monday claiming that “Musk’s Twitter funding might be dangerous information free of charge speech.”

One Twitter consumer expressed his doubt that Musk will make adjustments that profit everybody, asserting that the Tesla boss “appears self-centered.” A distinct consumer mentioned he’ll stop Twitter if Musk is in management.

Some folks within the crypto group identified that Musk’s promise to enhance Twitter is a show of the issue with the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, citing its obvious weak spot of being managed by the wealthy. One wrote:

Elon is displaying you the way simple it’s to regulate a PoS community.

Do you assume Elon Musk will enhance Twitter? What adjustments do you wish to see taking place? Let us know within the feedback part under.